The Educational Valorisation of Traditional Knowledge: an Intervention-Research with Tuleros, Mayan Artisans of Atitlán Lake in Guatemala

The article presents an Action-Research with the Tuleros Association of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, focusing on the analysis of skills that these Mayan artisans employ in the production process of tul, to create typical objects of Mayan and tzutuj’il culture. The aim is to test how educational valorisation of their traditional knowledge promotes the safeguarding of local biocultural diversity and the sustainable management of natural lacustrine resources. The ecosystemic analysis of the tul production integrates individual and collective perspectives on skills, but also detects how productive skills broaden within the context of reference, thus transforming it.